Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy to hire 100 new employees

By Alaric DeArment

FLINT, Mich. — A rapidly growing specialty pharmacy company in Michigan is about to experience another spurt.

Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy said it had an immediate need to fill 100 full-time jobs, primarily in patient care coordination, order entry and customer service, but including 10 to 15 positions in areas like nursing, five in sales and account management, and 10 to 15 in technology areas like programming, quality analysis, data modeling and data architecture.

"Diplomat is already well known in Flint and Genesee County, and we have had great success in hiring from this area," Diplomat human resources manager Tracey Watlington said.

In April 2010, the company announced that it would purchase its new headquarters, the former General Motors Great Lakes Technology Centre complex in Flint, Mich., with plans to hire 1,000 workers over five years.

A big plan the company has is to help reinvent the city of Flint, historically an auto industry manufacturing center that has long suffered from economic depression. In August, the company hired Flint native Steve Wolbert to be its first community relations liaison, a position that the company said was so successful that it promoted him to director of government relations and community affairs.

"One of Diplomat's strategic goals is to go beyond checkbook philanthropy to expand our corporate citizenship initiatives, provide opportunities for jobs and create a strong community fabric again," CEO and co-founder Phil Hagerman said. "Steve has deep ties to the local community and has already spearheaded projects since joining us in August that are putting Diplomat in a leadership role in the transformation of Flint and Genesee County."